SkyWest (SKYW) Competitors

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) and Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) are both mid-cap transportation companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, community ranking, media sentiment, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Does the media prefer SKYW or ALK?

In the previous week, Alaska Air Group had 4 more articles in the media than SkyWest. MarketBeat recorded 27 mentions for Alaska Air Group and 23 mentions for SkyWest. SkyWest's average media sentiment score of 0.83 beat Alaska Air Group's score of 0.47 indicating that SkyWest is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
SkyWest	10 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Alaska Air Group	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	5 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is SKYW or ALK more profitable?

SkyWest has a net margin of 9.15% compared to Alaska Air Group's net margin of 3.37%. Alaska Air Group's return on equity of 14.66% beat SkyWest's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SkyWest	9.15%	14.17%	4.61%
Alaska Air Group	3.37%	14.66%	3.60%

Do analysts recommend SKYW or ALK?

SkyWest presently has a consensus price target of $120.67, indicating a potential upside of 41.79%. Alaska Air Group has a consensus price target of $70.15, indicating a potential upside of 55.86%. Given Alaska Air Group's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Alaska Air Group is more favorable than SkyWest.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SkyWest	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Alaska Air Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.92

Do institutionals and insiders believe in SKYW or ALK?

81.3% of SkyWest shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.9% of Alaska Air Group shares are held by institutional investors. 2.0% of SkyWest shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Alaska Air Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is SKYW or ALK a better dividend stock?

SkyWest pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Alaska Air Group pays an annual dividend of $1.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. SkyWest pays out 7.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Alaska Air Group pays out 49.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, SKYW or ALK?

Alaska Air Group has higher revenue and earnings than SkyWest. SkyWest is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Alaska Air Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SkyWest	$3.53B	0.98	$322.96M	$7.77	10.95
Alaska Air Group	$11.74B	0.47	$395M	$3.05	14.76

Which has more volatility & risk, SKYW or ALK?

SkyWest has a beta of 1.83, suggesting that its stock price is 83% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alaska Air Group has a beta of 1.37, suggesting that its stock price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer SKYW or ALK?

Alaska Air Group received 392 more outperform votes than SkyWest when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 70.17% of users gave Alaska Air Group an outperform vote while only 68.21% of users gave SkyWest an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
SkyWest	Outperform Votes 457 68.21%	Underperform Votes 213 31.79%
Alaska Air Group	Outperform Votes 849 70.17%	Underperform Votes 361 29.83%

Summary

Alaska Air Group beats SkyWest on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.